A Second Time Around
by livingstorywriter101
Summary: Veck's got a second mall and second chance, only one thing is standing in his way. Lexi, a shy female mall cop that's never even touched a gun. He's not too worried but a nagging voice, named Lexi, keeps reminding him that Paul Blart managed to beat him.
1. Luck?

A sneer graced Veck's lips as he looked at his hostages in the bank. A second mall and a second chance to go with it. He'd undergone extensive plastic surgery and an identity change. He was a completely different person in one sense but in another he was still Veck, the guy that was defeated by Paul Blart. But that wouldn't happen this time and it was all because of the beautiful fact that Paul Blart didn't work at this mall. Another thing that convinced Veck that he couldn't lose here was that the only mall cop still in the mall was a girl.

Veck was quite sexist when it came to guys being stronger than girls, (very few girls had impressed him enough to be on his team) but this mall cop seemed extremely shy and quiet. Not one to try to go against him. He didn't like the fact that she was still running loose in the mall, just like Blart had been, but he wasn't too worried.

The mall cop's name was Lexi. Lexi wasn't very big, in fact she was what you'd call on the small side. She was quit thin and no higher than 5'1. She was quiet pretty but she was so quiet that no one really paid attention to her, besides a few select employees at the mall who happened to be her friends. She had blue eyes and light blond hair that was cut in a pixie style. No one really paid her much respect and she had a hard time ever getting relationships. She wanted a child but it'd never happened yet. The only family she really had left was her older brother, Kyle, and he was very close with her, the kind of brother that was very protective of his little sister. She lived with him and he always brought her lunch and made dinner since he worked from home as a writer.

Lexi looked around the empty mall with fear. How could she have been so stupid? She'd seen the report about the takeover at that one mall on the news. How did she not recognize him, he'd been all over the news for months and now she'd revealed everything about the mall to him.

Who was he? He was Veck Sims, the guy that had been defeated by the world renowned mall cop known as Paul Blart. It had seemed so unlikely that a guy like Paul could defeat a guy like… well any guy at all but even more so in Veck's case.

Lexi wasn't exactly sure how she knew that he was Veck, but she had a strong feeling it was. How he'd gotten out of jail was a mystery to her, but he had. A feeling of nausea swept over her. She'd trusted him and even… liked him. Not nearly as much as Jeremy, one of the clerks in the food court. Lexi had liked Jeremy for the longest time, since the first time she'd every seen him even seen him. What was not to like? He was extremely good looking, sweet, active in charity, and he was nice to her. She'd tried to ask him out before but she just couldn't. She didn't have the guts to and she didn't want to get turned down.

Lexi knew she'd never be able to take down Veck on her own and wished she'd stayed home sick that day. But a feeling of obligation to the mall kept nagging her in the back of her mind. She knew that it was her job to protect the mall but she hadn't thought this would happen when she'd signed up for the job. She thought she'd just be chasing after shop lifters and stuff like that. Never in all her life had she thought she'd have to deal with something like this.

Lexi jumped with fear as Veck's voice came on over the intercom of the mall. "Lexi, no one wants to see you get hurt so just come to the security room and you won't have to be hurt and brought here by force."

Veck watched Lexi through one of the security cameras as she looked around with panic. _This is going to be way too easy._ Veck thought to himself.

"N-no…" Lexi said with fear.

"What?!" Veck asked through intercom with annoyance and surprise.

Had she just said no to him? He was the one with the gun and hostages. He was supposed to be the one in charge of this, not her. "I said no."

Veck growled with annoyance as he zoomed in on her to see if she was actually scared or not. She had look of pure terror on her face. Veck felt a sneer appear on his face as he realized that she was trying to act tough and possibly do what Blart had somehow managed to do. He laughed with cruelty. "You're terrified and you know it. You think that brave act will work. I can see the fear on your face. You have to realize that you have no chance of defeating me. You do realize that, right?"

Lexi winced at Veck's words but tried to put on a brave face. "I'm not afraid of you Veck. If someone like Paul could defeat you and your plans then someone like me can also defeat you and your plans."

Veck laughed loudly and cruelly at Lexi's words. "What a heartfelt speech. I don't like heartfelt speeches though and you're obviously living off in your own world. You're an idiot if you actually believe what all you just said. And as for _Blart,_ he got lucky."

The hatred for Paul was obvious, to Lexi and everyone else in the mall, by the way he'd said his name. "You don't scare me Veck. And you don't really think he was lucky, do you? You know it was more than luck, don't you? It was justice."

Veck laughed with amusement. "Justice? Justice had nothing to do with it! The overgrown bag of lard got lucky and everyone, including him, knows it."

Lexi knew he was probably right about Paul getting lucky on beating him, but he could also be wrong. "And what if wasn't luck? What if was justice?"

Veck rolled his eyes as he noticed the sudden lack of confidence that was oh so evident on Lexi's face. "You don't even believe what you're saying. It's a fact that anyone could easily see, even if they were standing a mile away."

Lexi knew all too well that Veck was right and wished that she could believe that it wasn't luck that had been on Paul's side that night. She wished she could believe that it was really justice or even skill that had helped Paul win, but how could she, or anyone else for that matter, believe it was anything more than luck that had lead Paul to victory.

A thought suddenly arose in Lexi's mind though. "That may be true, but who's to say I won't have the same luck that he did?"

Veck laughed at this. "And who's to say that you will?"

"I say that I will. What are the chances that someone gets the luck to defeat you and your crew single handedly? There's the same chances that someone else, someone like me, gets that same luck that lets them defeat you and your crew a second time."

This sent Veck over the edge. How dare she speak to him like that, like she could take him down with ease. He was the one that knew how to use a gun and even had one, while she had told him while she was 'training' him that she'd never even touched a toy water gun, so much as a real one! "Fine, if you think you have the luck that Blart got you can use it when I send my _crew_ down there to get you." Lexi's eyes widened with fear as Veck smirked with satisfaction at her expression. "Unless you'd like to take my offer from earlier and just come to the security room where you'll become my hostage, though it will much less painful for you that way."

Giving up and becoming a hostage sounded like such an easy choice to Lexi, but it didn't sound like the right choice to her. The right choice would be to stand up to Veck and his crew, like Paul had. But that also sounded like the scariest decision she could make in all of her life. In all honesty this was a life or death decision. Life would be following Veck's orders and death would be standing up for what was right by defying Veck and his orders. "So you going to give up now Lexi?" Veck asked in a mocking tone.

His tone told her what she had to do. A tiny lump of confidence grew with-in her as she recalled the words that Paul had repeated on the news so many times before. "Sure, I'll meet you on the corner of 'Ne' and 'Ver'."


	2. Just Who Do You Think You Are?

Veck growled with annoyance as Lexi looked right at him through the security camera that was capturing her every move and allowing Veck to keep an eye on her. A feeling of hatred and loathing for Lexi suddenly found itself in Veck. She was being incredibly annoying and idiotic in Veck's eyes at the moment. But a thought suddenly hit him, a thought of vengeance to her and every other mall cop (Paul Blart namely) that had stood in the way of what he wanted. He smirked at the black and white figure of Lexi, though she couldn't see the smirk. "Fine have it your way. It all the more pain and disappointment you'll suffer when you become my hostage."

Lexi knew he was just trying to scare her into giving up and succumbing to his demands, though it was working pretty well. But a voice in the back of her mind kept telling her that Veck was more than capable at hurting her in spite and in vengeance towards both her, for standing up to him, and Paul for beating him. He'd be releasing all the anger and hatred he'd been feeling towards Paul for the last two years and he'd be releasing the annoyance he was feeling towards her defying him and his orders. A combination of that much hatred could be quite dangerous if not deadly. But he'd probably do the same thing even if Lexi came on her own free will. "I don't care," Lexi said quietly.

"What?!"

Rage and hatred bubbled inside Veck, threatening to spill out and make him hit the first thing in sight, which would be the master control of the security system. "I said I don't care," Lexi said again, louder this time and with more confidence.

Veck growled with frustration. "Just who do you think you are standing up to me?"

Lexi thought for a moment, not wanting to make a fool of herself when she was doing so well at doing just the obvious. To Lexi she was making not a fool of herself but a good Samaritan, if you will, of herself. But she was seen as a completely different thing from Veck's perspective. From Veck's perspective Lexi wasn't being a good Samaritan nor was she being a fool… well to Veck she was being more than a fool, she was being downright idiotic, but more than that she was being a nuisance and she had to be taken care of before it was too late. "I think, no I know, that I'm Lexi and I'm supposed to _try_ to take you down, no matter how difficult it gets," Lexi said finally.

Veck laughed at the words he'd just heard. "You can **_TRY_** all you want, but you'll just end up being my hostage! Like I said before Blart got lucky and you have no chance of defeating me."

"Speaking of chances, what were the chances of Paul beating you?"

"Point one in one billion."

Veck had been calculating those chances for the last two year and finally gave up, seeing that it was hopeless seeing that he'd already lost, and decided upon point one in one billion. "So what are the chances of me beating you?"

"I'll just say the chances of lightening striking me, not once, not twice, and not even three times, but five consecutive times."

Lexi nodded at the camera with a newfound confidence. "You're estimations are probably right Veck, but you know the saying. Lightening never strikes _twice_. It never said anything about five consecutive times."

Veck rolled his eyes as he took a few deep breathes and calmed down. What was he so worried about? He was the one with the gun, the hostages, the plan, and the backup that would get Lexi and bring her to him with a snap of his fingers. He felt extremely stupid and foolish for being worried in the first place. _What's getting into you Veck? There's no reason to be worried about Lexi beating you. Wait… where'd she go?! _

Veck frantically scanned the security monitors but couldn't find Lexi on any of them. He groaned with annoyance and aggravation. It was his own fault that she'd escaped his sight and he knew it. He'd been too indulged in his own over confidence. But what was there to not be over confident about? As far as Veck could see this would be like taking candy from… well like taking candy from a baby named Paul Blart. Veck smirked to himself, once again much to over confident for his own good. He looked at the monitor that showed the bank where his hostages sat, struggling in vain, and his backup sat looking around broadly.

"Hey you four in the bank!" The four people Veck had brought as backup looked around in the surprise and pointed at themselves while saying the word 'me?' "Yes you, you idiots! I want two of you to go look for the rouge mall cop and bring her to me. Do what you have to, to get her here. But keep her alive, if she's going to die tonight it'll be by my hand."

Even on the small screen Veck could clearly see the panicked looks on the hostages' faces as their eyes widened while the four figures nodded. Two, one obviously being a female in prime shape, left immediately while the other two, obviously males that were in very good shape, stayed to keep an eye on the hostages.

Even on the small screen Veck could clearly see the panicked looks on the hostages' faces as their eyes widened while the four figures nodded. Two, one obviously being a female in prime shape, left immediately while the other two, obviously males that were in very good shape, stayed to keep an eye on the hostages.

Among the six hostages was a boy with sandy blonde hair and brown highlights. His eyes were a shade of green that could pierce your very soul if he looked at you with the correct glare. His name was Jeremy and he worked in the food court that resided in the mall.

Then there was a girl with chestnut brown hair and hazel eyes. Her name was Kelly and she worked in the cinema that resided in the mall.

Beside Kelly was a boy with strawberry blonde hair and grayish blue eyes. His name was Phillip, but he went by Phil, and he worked in sports equipment store that resided in the mall.

Then there was a boy with short dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. His name was Jessie and he worked the candy store that resided in the mall.

Next to him sat a boy with longish brown hair and amber eyes. His name was Richard, but he went by Rick, and he worked in the glasses department that resided in the mall.

The last hostage was a girl with short black hair and almost a shad of purple for her eyes, but the were hidden by the big glasses she wore. Her name was Susan, but she went by Suzy, and she worked in the bookstore that resided in the mall.

All six of them looked at each other with panic. Lexi was a good friend to all of them, well all but Kelly. But even Kelly knew that Lexi was their only hope at this point. If Lexi was caught and possible killed they were all in deep trouble.


	3. Your luck can’t last forever Lexi

Lexi scanned her surroundings carefully as she prayed that she wasn't within sight of the security camera at the moment. Veck was obviously watching the whole mall from the security room and that gave him the upper hand on finding her. She'd heard what he'd said to his back up in mall, she wasn't ready to die, not yet at least.

The sound of wheels, of a skateboard being ridden, on the mall floor could be heard as one of the people sent to look for Lexi neared the area she waited at. _Well this is it…_ As the sounds drew closer Lexi crossed her fingers that her plan would work.

The guy that rode the skateboard had a determined look on his face as he rode. His hair was short and brunet while his eyes were a shade of brown and hazel mixed together. His code name was Striker and he knew what he had to do. His mission was to find and capture the one person, whom wasn't on his side, that was still roaming around the mall. This sounded pretty easy to him.

After all, he was quite strong and very tough while this person, this mall cop, was a weak girl who'd never even touched a gun while Striker had tons of experience with weaponry. It was a few of many the reasons he was asked to be part of Veck's team. "Come out, come out where ever you are," Striker said in a menacing tone.

"Come and get me," Lexi whispered as an ear-piercing squeal suddenly erupted in the air.

Striker felt himself lose control of what his skateboard was doing all too quickly. This quick change caused the board to jerk him off as it slid on the freshly waxed floor. He closed his eyes and yelled out the single word, "Whoa!" as he landed on the floor, after a painful looking head on collision with a safety rail (seeing as they were on the third story of the mall).

He groaned a bit as Lexi quickly tied his hands and feet with the belt she'd gotten in the store that could be seen easily from where she was sitting. Striker continued to groan as Lexi struggled to drag him into the nearest closet and lock him in it. "One down," Lexi muttered after tying the belts around Striker's wrists and ankles together, as an extra precaution.

Veck groaned with annoyance as he realized what had just happened. Lexi had defeated Striker. _If he can't defeat her he deserves to stay locked in the closet. _

"So you managed to take down one of my men," Veck growled through the intercom. "I'll admit that you got a little luck on that, but your luck's soon to run out. She's in the east end of the third floor Shock."

Shock nodded as she rode her bike towards where Veck had instructed her to go. Shock was the only female on Veck's team, but that didn't mean she was the weakest link on Veck's team. Oh no, Shock was extremely fast, flexible, and strong. She wasn't buffed out like most of the guys were but she was quite wiry. He hair was short, in a pixie cut, and dyed purple with pink highlights while her color contacts made her eyes appear to be an assortment of bright colors, almost like a rainbow but all the colors were different shades of pink, blue, and purple. Shock knew how to fight too, she'd grown up in a gang infested neighborhood in New York, not to mention been in toughest gang there was.

A smirk appeared on her face as she spotted Lexi sitting in the shadows. Shock sped up in an attempt to prove herself to Veck and the rest of his team, but she didn't notice that Lexi had a large empty bucket beside her.

The bucket reeked of Elmer's clear quick drying cement that had been poured on the ground not three minutes ago. As the wheels of Shock's bike hit the wet cement they immediately ceased moving and Shock went flying. She cried out in pain as her head came in contact with the safety rail that Striker had hit a few minutes before. She groaned as Lexi disposed of her the same way she had Striker.

Veck groaned at his teams lack of skill. "Is that all you've got Veck, cause I really would have expected more from you and your team," Lexi said, confidence fully filling her body as she reminded herself not to become over confident, seeing as the odds were still pretty against her.

"Don't worry, I've got plenty more for you," Veck mumbled as he glanced at the five men behind himself and pointed at the three biggest and toughest looking of them. "You three go get her."

They nodded and hurried off to where Lexi. "Have fun with this batch Lexi," Veck laughed through the intercom. Lexi mentally groaned as she started trying to think up something for the new people that were coming for her. An idea popped into her head as she started running. "Running won't do you any good Lexi, I can see you almost anywhere you go."

_That's what I'm hoping on._ Lexi continued to run as Veck continued to give her location to his men, who were called Tack, Jump, and Slash.

Tack was the smallest of the three, but he was still quite big. His hair was short and black while his eyes looked like they were totally black.

Jump was in between the sizes of Tack and Slash. His hair was short, spiked, and red while his eyes were green.

Slash was the biggest of the three. He had no hair while one of his eyes was brown and the other was blue.

All three of them followed the directions Veck continued to spout out at them through the intercom system. Finally caught up enough to see Lexi. She was running towards a giant bounce house. As soon as she was in she started spraying the inside with a can of spray-able crazy glue. She jumped once and grabbed the one wall she hadn't sprayed and started climbing. Once at the top she sprayed one last good covering of the floor and walls. A few seconds later Tack, Jump, and Slash all pushed their way in.

The glue had made the floor both extremely sticky and slippery. With in seconds all three of them had fallen flat on the faces and were grunting as they tried to get up from their sticky situation. Lexi quickly climbed outside of the bounce house and zipped the three men in (along with gluing the zipper the house so it wouldn't go down.

She smiled as Veck growled and mumbled over the intercom that the people he had hired were useless and unable to take care of the simplest of tasks. He then sent out his other two men that were in the security room with him. _Your luck can't last forever Lexi, no one's ever does._


	4. You're Mine Now Lexi

Lexi looked at the security camera while a feeling of exhaustion swept of her. She wasn't used to this much physical activity in such a short period of time and it was starting to take its toll on her. However, something inside of her head, possibly her subconscious, told her that this wasn't a plain case of too much running, it was something more. She looked around and, blurrily, spotter two men approaching her. Both of them wore gas mask and were spray, what looked to be, a type of gas with the type of thing a pestilence control person would spray rat poison with. "Getting tired Lexi?" Veck asked cruelly with a laugh.

Lexi knew that she had to get out of the area, and fast. She started, sluggishly, running towards the opposite direction that the men were positioned in. They didn't start chasing her though; they just continued to spray as Veck had instructed them to do just before they'd left the security room.

Veck smirked as he noticed Lexi grow more and more tired. He was glad, to say the least, that he had brought some knock out gas. He couldn't quite remember why he'd brought it in the first place, but he knew now that it had been a good idea to. He knew that it had to have been his idea to bring it in the first place since it was turning out to be so useful. Veck thought himself smarter and more cleaver than all of the people he'd hired combined. This was probably true, considering that most of his lackeys were complete and utter morons, more or less so.

_Just keep running Lexi, it'll just tire you out all the faster._

Lexi could feel her eyelids getting heavier with each step she took, but she wasn't about to let Veck and his plots get the best of her. But the gasses the two men were spraying were affecting her physically, and she couldn't do anything that could stop them from affecting her in such ways. _Just keep going Lexi, it will keep you vigilant._

However, she felt her mind start to go black as her vision blurred and her balance swayed. Her breathing became heavy and hard to continue as her eye lids started to droop. She continued to drag her feet as they, her legs, and everything started to feel like led. She felt lightheaded, ready to faint into unconsciousness at any second. Her head felt like a balloon that wanted to float away into… well wherever it could get. She could hear slow thuds as her heart slowed, wanting her to collapse. He body cried for her to let it shut itself down and let her fall into the hands.

But she could hear Veck cruelly laughing in the back of her mind and could just see his arrogant, overconfident, pompous and cocky smirk. She knew that she had to stay awake, no matter how hard it was.

Veck looked with amazement as Lexi continued to drudge away from his men. How was she doing it? Wasn't it physically impossible to stay awake this long with that big an amount of knockout gas being spewed around you at such a close proximity?

_Dimmit! Why won't she collapse?!_

Veck growled with annoyance as Lexi trudged farther away. Centimeter by centimeter. But as she got farther she managed to go a bit faster. "Just let yourself fall into unconsciousness Lexi," Veck muttered softly, as if to make her think he was her conscious. "It will be so much easier that way."

"N-no… can't… mustn't…" Lexi mutter quietly, as her head starting to feel heavy instead of light.

She knew that she didn't have much time before she would flat out collapse onto the floor of the mall, but if she could just get to an area that didn't have any security cameras in it and collapse there she could hide until she wok up. A thought popped into her mind as she saw that she wasn't all that far from a restroom. She knew that she was out of the sight in Veck's case, but the men spraying the gases would easily be able to see her going into the restroom.

The gases were really starting to hit Lexi, and hard. Everything started spinning and going black as she stopped walking. She felt herself sway as the world around her continued to darken. She quietly moaned as her body ached for her to just give into the gases purpose. Her head throbbed with pain as she felt herself lose balance. The last thing she could remember before the world completely disappeared on her was a soft chuckle and Veck's voice telling his men, whom were apparently called Slicer and Shredder, to go and get her.

Slicer was extremely tall and thin. His arms appeared to muscle-less but there was actually quite a bit of muscle there. His hair was short and the shade of brown that a Starbucks coffee would be while his eyes were the same color as caramel.

Shedder was a tad shorter than Slicer was but just as thin. He had a bit of visible but, like Slicer, he was more wiry than buffed out. His hair was in a fax hawk and jet black while his eyes were a simple shade of blue.

Slicer made it to Lexi first so he picked her up, with ease, and threw her over his shoulder. They started to make their way their way to the bank when Veck's voice rang out through the intercom stopping them. "Where do you two think you're going? I want you to bring her to me. I'm not going to chance her getting away from you idiots. She's already taken down five of you idiots I hired on her own, what's four more to her? Bring her to me now."

The nodded and started walking towards the control room. Veck looked at them with anticipation. He couldn't wait for her to be in his grasp, to be his hostage, but more importantly his _victim_. The thought of finally releasing all the anger for her and the bag of lard Paul made him almost giddy. He started planning everything he would do to her.

The first thing on his list of things to do once she awoke to being tied up was to belittle her as much as he possibly could and then one she looked close to the point of tears he would start hurting her physically. He'd hurt her until she was close to death, then he'd use her as the hostage he'd use to get past all the cops after killing the other ones. Then on the way to his destination he would make her feel as guilty as he possibly could for not being able to help the other hostages and helping him get past the cops.

Yes, to Veck it was the perfect plan. No other plan would work for him at that point he'd come up with a plan that he like and he was going to stick to it. A cruel smirk came to his face as Slicer and Shredder entered the room, Lexi on Slicer's shoulder. _You're mine now Lexi._


	5. Hiatus, sorry!

**A/N I'm sorry, but I gotta put this story on hiatus until I finish my other story. I don't want to do this but I keep getting overwhelmed and I want to be able to make all my stories as good as they can be so I'm gonna work on my other story that's going at the moment and when it's done I'll work on this one then when this one's done I'll start anouther story I came up with :) Please be patient and I'll finish the other one as soon as I possibly can so this can continue.**


	6. Your Time's Up

Once Veck finally had Lexi in his grasp the feeling of revenge and hatred for her grew and spread throughout his body like a wild fire in the driest forest there ever was. Anticipation for his plans burned his very soul and the fire could very well be seen in his eyes for any person that was close enough. His frustrations and angers for everyone that had ever gotten in his way would finally be released in a few hours, if he could find it in himself to be able to restrain himself for that long.

He set her on a chair and tied her to it. Now all that was left was waiting for her to wake up. "Might as well go kill the other hostages while we wait," he muttered as he along with the other two men went to the bank where the six hostages were.

Jeremy was struggling to get untied as he prayed that Lexi hadn't been caught. He was smart enough to know that they didn't stand a chance if Lexi was caught, not that they stood much of a chance if she hadn't been caught.

Kelly was quite close to hyperventilating from all the fear that was coursing through her body. She knew that she and Lexi weren't on the best of terms and she wasn't all that sure that Lexi would actually help her after all she'd done to her. No, Lexi wasn't the type of person to hurt or let someone be hurt out of spite and vengeance, Kelly knew that much.

Phil, Rick and Suzy were all looking at each other with panic. They'd known Lexi their whole time working at the mall, which was quite a while, and they knew she wasn't the strongest person in the world and tied up they couldn't very well help her if she was caught.

"Hello kiddies," Veck said in a mocking tone as he walked in.

Jeremy glared at him. "You're not that much older than us," he said. "But if insist on calling us that, hello OLD MAN."

Veck glared back as he withdrew his gun. "I'd be careful with what you say," he said, fingering the gun causing Kelly to gasp with fear. He smirked at her obvious discomfort. "Oh yes, I'd be very careful. Cause you see, I caught her and you're in no position to be saying anything you may regret." Phil, Rick and Suzy looked at each other with worry as Veck pointed his gun at Jeremy. "Though either way, your time's up."

Meanwhile Lexi was awaking with groan and a headache. She blinked and looked around with a confused expression. "Wha-what's going on?" she muttered as she glanced at the security screens. "No…"

She quickly started trying to struggle out of the ropes she was bound in as the fog in her head started to clear, allowing her to think clearly. She knew that if she didn't get out of the ropes she was bound in the hostages were doomed, not that she had much power in the matter either way. One of her wrists slipped out of the ropes causing her to cry out with joy as she started untying her feet, Veck hadn't tied the ropes all that tightly for some reason so it was fairly easy to get out of them.

She ran over to the microphone that Veck had been using so much that night and spoke into it. "Veck?" she asked, her voice a bit shaky, though it startled Veck nonetheless causing him to misfire and hit one of his men's legs.

Veck looked around in surprise as the groans of pain from one of his men could be heard. "She's untied…" he realized as a look of pure rage came to his face. He'd been so close and now Lexi was no longer under his control! He looked at the closest security camera with a menacing growl. "You'll stay in that room and just wait for me if you have any idea what's good for you Lexi."

"No, I don't think that'd be very good for me at all," Lexi responded. "Or for the others that you have with you."

"Tell you what, I'll make a deal with you," Veck said with a smirk as he motioned for one of the three remaining men to go to the security room, though Lexi didn't notice. "I won't kill any of them…" Veck motioned towards the hostages. "If you stay in the security room and wait for me like the good little girl we all know you can be."

At that moment the man Veck sent to the security room burst in causing Lexi to let out a string of curse and unflattering words to Veck as she backed away from the man. "I'll take that as a no then," Veck smirked as he pointed the gun towards Jeremy.

"No! It's a yes! I'll stay in here!" Lexi said as she was grabbed.

"Too late."

Veck pointed the gun at Jeremy and pulled the trigger but nothing happened. He looked at the gun with anger as Lexi and the hostages realized that the gun was empty. Lexi smirked a bit as she quickly made contact with her captors shin. He dropped her in surprise letting Lexi run towards the door to the rest of the mall. He quickly followed after her though her head start let her get out of his sight long enough that he didn't know which corridor to go down.

Veck, to say the least, was not happy when the man went back to the security room and told him, though the intercom, that Lexi had escaped. "Why is it always that if you want something done right you have to do it yourself?!" he muttered as he finished reloading his gun and turned towards Jeremy. "You, you're first to go back after I get back here."

Before Jeremy could even respond a yell erupted from outside the bank. "Hey, if you want me Veck, come and get me!"

Everyone turned but saw nothing. "You two split up and get her, I'm staying here in case she comes here for the hostages," Veck said, he had since learned from Paul that keeping an eye on the hostages was important.

Lexi ran as quickly as she could, she'd already locked the security room door so that guy was trapped. All that was left were two guys and Veck. Why was it that Veck seemed like he'd be harder than all off his goons put together to take down? Oh yea… it was because he'd been through all this kind of stuff before and was probably smarter than all of the goons put together.

One of the two men looking for Lexi, Swat, suddenly spotted her. He smirked as he sped up. His hair was short and flaming red while his eyes were blue, he was somewhat tall and thin but very strong and agile. He'd learnt from his teammates defeats not to underestimate Lexi but still felt extremely confident.

Lexi looked back and saw Swat running after her and quickly sped up. She had to think of what to do and fast!

**_(Yay! No more hiatus for this one!)_**


	7. Looks Like I'm Your Prisoner Now

Lexi looked around at her surroundings as she ran, praying that she could find something help her in this desperate moment. She suddenly spotted just what she needed though and quickly sped up and went to the escalator.

Swat kept his eye on Lexi as he chased after her while a confused expression crossed his face. Why was she running up the down escalator? She wouldn't get anywhere very fast that way, he quickly decided to be extremely careful. Lexi obviously had a plan and he wasn't about to fall for it.

Lexi looked back and saw that Swat wasn't very far behind and she wasn't even half way up the escalator. She quickly put her plan into action as Swat started running up the up escalator so he could head her off. She quickly turned and ran down the escalator causing Swat to slide down the railing of it while Lexi quickly went to the sports store.

She pressed the button on the wall that caused the bars to come down just before Swat could enter it. "Should've thought that one through huh?" he taunted with a smirk causing Lexi to look at him with confusion. "I may not be able to get you in there but you're trapped now."

"Oh man… I guess you're right. I should've thought that through a bit more," Lexi said sadly, though she smiling like mad on the inside. "Guess I'm your prisoner now."

"You got that right," Swat smirked. "Now I'm going to go Veck, don't go anywhere."

"Like I could," Lexi said with the same sad expression.

Swat smirked as he left her 'trapped' in the sporting goods store. As soon as Lexi was sure that Swat was out of hearing range she re-opened the gate and headed towards the nearest shop that could help her only to find Swat heading her off. "You didn't think I was that stupid did you?" he smirked as he stepped towards her.

She backed away as she prayed for a way to get away and make it so he was out of her way. "S-stay back!" she warned as she found herself backed against one of the safety rails.

Swat smirked as he pushed himself against her and grabbed her face, causing a pang of fear to fill her. "You know, I could just push you over this ledge and say you fell. After all, there's no guarantee that you'd die," he said as he lifted her up. "But you're so pretty, it'd be a shame to mess that up before someone got one last go at you."

Lexi's eyes widened as she began to struggle while Swat dragged her into a men's clothing store and into a changing room, grabbing a few belts along the way. "Get away from me!" she cried as she was pushed into the changing room.

Swat smirked as he locked the door and pulled one of the two belts in such a way that it made a harsh snapping sound before he began to tie her arms with the one. "Stop struggling sweets," he smirked. "It won't do you any good and it'll just make this harder then it'll have to be for you."

Lexi began to cry and scream for help, hoping Veck and his one other lacky wouldn't be cruel enough to let this happen. "Stop! Please stop! You don't have to do this!" she cried as Swat threw her into.

"I know I don't HAVE to sweets, I want to," he said with the cruelest smirk Lexi had seen all night. "And besides, you know you're gonna love it. Think of it as me doing you the biggest favor I could possibly do before your life ends."

He then bent down and began to tie her ankles together with the other belt. "No! Get away from me!" she cried kicking him in the chest.

He let out, what sounded like, a cross between a groan and a chuckle before looking up with a smirk while waving the belt tauntingly. "Feisty… I like it!" Tears streamed down Lexi's face as she kicked out again, this time making contact with Swat's face and hearing a loud crunch. A steady flow of blood began to flow down his face as he tenderly touched his nose and yelled out in pain. "You broke my nose! That's a real turn off, you know that sweets?" His voice was filled with rage as he roughly tied her ankles and threw her over his shoulder. "What you say we go back to that ledge now?"

"No! Please let me go!" she cried as he took her to the ledge.

"Oh… don't worry, I will," he said cruelly as he held her out over the edge. "Anything you wanna say before you get some real damage done to you?"

**_(Gah! Sorry it took so long to update! I've just been so busy lately! Now I just need to figure out what I can do in the next chapter. I love writing characters like Swat for some reason. Jerks, though Swat I feel is way over the jerk status, are really fun to write for some odd reason. Am I evil for haveing such a fun time writing this chapter? I really hope I'm not!)_**


	8. Hold on Tight!

Lexi struggled as she looked down at the ground with fear. The fall would be two floors down but it looked about five floors farther than that when Lexi looked. Being held in the air, about to be dropped, and having a deathly fear of heights and falling wasn't a good combination in Lexi's mind. "Please don't do this!" she begged as froze with fear while tears streamed down her face.

Swat smirked as he threw her up into the air, letting her fall for a second and easily caught her again, though the rush from even a second of freefalling set her screaming. "Wasn't that fun sweets? Wanna see what happens when I don't catch you?" he sneered as tears rushed down Lexi's face.

She quickly shook her head no as she whimpered with fear. "No, please," she begged.

Swat laughed at the amount of fear that he could see in Lexi. "You're a real wimp, you know that sweets? Sure you'll try to take down a bunch of people that are obviously so much stronger than you but when it comes to heights you'll start crying like a little baby."

Lexi knew he was right, after all she'd been through that nigh she'd chosen now to break down and start showing the weakness that she so evidently had, but she couldn't help it. All she wanted at that moment was to be safe on the ground. "Please… just stop," she cried, unable to show any bravery.

Swat smirked as he brought her close to himself. "You going to stop fighting and trying to be the hero?" Lexi didn't respond as tears began to increase in both numbers and speed. After a few seconds though she nodded her head yes. "Good."

A feeling of hopelessness began to fill Lexi as Swat dragged her off to the bank. Once there she was handed to Veck, whom looked ever so pleased with himself. "So you weren't able to trap him like the others huh?" he smirked as he set Lexi in a swivel chair.

She looked away from him with a defeated expression on her face, though her chin was pushed up to look at Vecks' face. The thing that was touching her was cool, smooth and hard. She glanced down and her breath hitched a bit from the sight of the cock of a gun being pointed at her neck. Vecks' smirk grew as he slowly moved the gun up to her temple, it lightly brushing against her skin the whole way. He picked her up, the gun never moving from her temple, and looked at the other hostages.

"You're all just lucky that I only have one spare bullet or else I'd just kill you all here and now. But since I'm on my last two bullets and what I wanted to do is complete I'll be going now," Veck said, sending a not-so-subtle glare towards Jeremy.

"What about Lexi?" Jeremy asked with a worried glace towards her.

In all honesty he had a good sized crush on her and the bravery and self sacrifice she'd shown that night had only made the crush even more evident to him. The only thing that kept him from telling her was… well it was the fact that he was scared she didn't like him back, so he didn't even try to touch the subject. He'd talked to her a little bit every so often, but when he did he'd find it hard to form words and she didn't seem like much of a talker.

Veck smirked as he looked Lexi, whom looked scared out of her mind. "Lexi will be coming with me."

Lexi struggled a bit as Veck carried her out of the bank and towards the back entrance of the mall, where his ride was waiting. She was soon thrown into the back of the car, letting Veck get into the drivers' seat and begins to drive.

Lexi struggled as she managed to sit up, only to be thrown down by Veck swerving every which way. "You should consider yourself lucky," Veck told Lexi in a mocking voice. "Not many girls make it into the backseat of my car on the first night." Lexi glared at Veck's back before he suddenly let out a string of strong profanities. "Hold on tight, we're going off road for this."

Lexi screamed with fear as she felt the car bounce up into the air but not hit the ground. She groaned as the car finally touched the ground again with a hard thud. Sirens could be heard in the far off distance and they only continued to get quieter as time went on. After what seemed like hours Veck stopped the car and proceeded to pull Lexi out of the car.

She struggled with all her might as she spotted the plane that Veck was heading towards. She felt her hands slip from the belt letting it fall to ground with a thud. Veck looked in surprise as Lexis' hand made contact with his stomach. He gasped as Lexi fell from his grasp. She quickly proceeded to undo the belt around her ankles as Veck tried to regain his ability to breathe.

As soon as the belt fell from her ankles Lexi stood up and backed away, dropping the belt without even thinking. Veck looked at her with a look of pure rage as he approached her, Lexi quickly backing away with every step he took towards her. "That's it," Veck growled. "I've had enough of your games Lexi. You think you have the slightest chance of taking me down? What Blart did was a fluke and it won't happen again."

Lexi knew that she was in a lot of trouble if Veck got his hands on her again. She continued to back away as a crash of thunder sounded and rain began pouring down onto them. "Why don't you just give up now and do what I tell you to do? Everything will be so much easier for you then and your struggling won't continue to waste both of our time. Because really Lexi, what makes you think that you stand any chance against me?"

The voice in Lexis' head continuously told her that Veck was right and that she was far too tired and weak to even really try anymore, but her heart told her that she couldn't do that. She had to continue to fight, if she just gave up Veck would get away with his crime no problem and that didn't seem right to her. "No."

"No what?"

Vecks' voice was seething with venom and anger; it scared Lexi to continue when Veck could pull out his gun at any moment and just shoot her there and then, but, again, she knew that she couldn't just give up. "No I'm not going to stop struggling and trying to stop you. At this point I'm the only one that can try."

"Well you know what? At this point you're the only one that's stupid enough to try to take a down someone that's a lot bigger than you and has a gun and a couple of bullets with him."

Lexi knew he was right but she didn't show any sign that she was scared. She'd been through too much to give him the fear he want so she just stood her ground and tried her best to look unaffected.

**_(I know it's been forever since I last updated and I apologize for that. I've just been extremely busy with school and this story is becomeing hard to write because I can't think of anything to happen :( I feel like Lexi's becoming a Mary-sue and I don't want that to happen!)_**


	9. I Don't See Anything Though

Veck inserted his two bullets and readied the gun shoot Lexi in a few swift movements. Lexi shut her eyes tightly, ready for the pain to come, as Veck pointed the gun at her. A loud bang echoed as Lexi felt a bullet suddenly come in contact with her left kneecap. She cried out in pain as she collapsed onto the ground.

A smirk graced Veck's face as he walked over to her, bent down to her level and put the cock of the gun to her temple. "Do you want to cooperate with me now, or should I pull the trigger right here and now?" he asked, his voice full of a cruel amusement. Tears of pain streamed down Lexi's face, but she gritted her teeth and glared, defiantly, at Veck. She knew that she didn't have any chance at this point, so why cooperate at all? Not that she'd really cooperated with him at all that night. "Well?"

"Never," Lexi spat defiantly.

"Fine have it your way then," Veck said, he sounded angered, though, that Lexi would rather take the bullet than just cooperate with him.

Lexi prepared herself to die. _Funny…_ she thought to herself. _I always thought your life was supposed to flash before your eyes right before you die… but I don't see anything though..._

A loud bang echoed throughout the air and Lexi fell to the ground, her body suddenly heavier. Her body ached and stung with pain as struggled to stay afloat in the hazy darkness that was beginning to envelope her world. Sirens echoed in the distance and she felt herself being picked up. "Lexi! Lexi! Wake up! Don't go to sleep!"

Lexi's breath stopped at the voice she heard. It sounded like Kyle, her older brother. She wanted to blink but she found that she didn't have the energy to. She did, however, manage to open her mouth and get a few words out. "K-Kyle, is that you?" she asked weakly.

"That's right Lexi, its Kyle. Just stay awake for me, okay?" the voice pleaded.

"O-okay," Lexi murmured quietly.

"You're gonna be okay Lexi, can you keep talking to me?"

"Y-yea… where's Veck?"

"He's back there on the ground."

This managed to give Lexi enough energy to quickly snap her eyes open. "Wh-what? What happened?"

"I shot him before he could shoot you."

"You? Y-you shot V-veck?"

Lexi had a shocked look on her face, as far as she knew Kyle had never touched a gun. "Yea, I've been too shooting ranges every so often and when I heard what was going on I drove down to the mall and demanded that they take me when the car with you and Veck sped past us. I was the first out of the car when we caught up and I'd grabbed a gun. So I shot him before he could shoot you… unfortunately, he still managed to shoot you in the chest. I'm pretty sure you're going to fine though."

"He got me in the knee too…" Lexi muttered. "So is he…"

She couldn't even bring herself to say the word. As much as Veck deserved it, she didn't want him to die. She would never wish that on anyone. "Dead?" Kyle asked causing Lexi to cringe a bit. Kyle looked at her sympathetically with his blue eyes. Lexi had been sensitive on that subject ever since their parents had died in a drive by shooting. "No. Just unconscious. I hit him in the back of the leg and he fell face first onto the ground."

"Oh…" Lexi said with a bit of relief. "How are the other employees?"

"They're all fine. In fact, a couple of them are waiting at the police station right now to find out what's up with you. I think the only one that didn't go was named Kelly." Lexi's breath stopped again, Jeremy had gone to see what happened. "One of them, Jeremy I think, had one of the police that stayed behind radio us to tell us that he wanted to know what was going on as it happened."

Lexi mentally smiled as she suddenly found herself being placed on a cot inside of an ambulance.

_Later…_

Lexi sat on the couch in her living room. It'd been a week since Veck had been apprehended and he was now back in jail where he belonged. Lexi was on leave from work because of her knee and chest. The bullet had narrowly missed all of her vital organs so she would be fine after plenty of rest.

The doorbell suddenly rang causing Lexi to look up from the book she was reading. Kyle was at the grocery store getting some food for dinner so it was up to her to answer the door. She sighed as she set the book down and grabbed her crutches. She slowly wobbled to the door and about two more rings she managed to open the door. What she saw took her breath away. "Jeremy?" she asked with surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey," Jeremy smiled. "Sorry I wasn't here sooner but everything's been pretty hectic lately."

Lexi smiled as Jeremy came in. She closed the door as they both went and sat down on the couch. "I know this is going to sound extremely random and all but after what happened I have to tell you something," Lexi said looking at Jeremy.

"Same here, that's why I came over, you go first."

"Kay… well I really like you, a lot."

Jeremy smiled. "Same here," he said as gently leaned in and placed a soft kiss on Lexi's lips.

A feeling of happiness filled Lexi as she kissed him back. _Maybe this whole fiasco was for the best…_

**The End**

**(Yay! I did it! I managed to get enough inspiration to finish this story :D I enjoyed writing it quite a bit though. It seems like every time I finish one of these long term stories it feels like a piece of me is missing :( The characters really grow on me when I'm writing them. They become my friends and family through the process. Hope you liked them as much as I did :D)**


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